Jekyl Island Club 

Brunswick, Georgia 
1916 



Compliments of 

Charles Lanier 



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Photogravure & Color Co., N. Y 



I 



JEKYL ISLAND* 

The Island 

To live on an Island! Who among us but has felt the 
fascination of this idea? From the youngster playing his 
first game of pirates and buried treasure to the oldster who 
is beginning to weary somewhat of the pressure of his omni- 
present fellowmen, we all know the lure of the romance 
which life on an island suggests. 

Yet to the civilized man and woman of today romance 
is not enough. There must be comfort and refinement, 
social intercourse and dignity — things not easily found in 
combination with the isolation and independence of island 

life. 

Yet for men of imagination and means the improbable 
is not always the impossible; and the Jekyl Island Club 
exists today as the ingenious solution of the difficult problem 
of finding profound seclusion and congenial companionship 
in one and the same spot. 

Along the curving coast of Georgia lies a string of 
islands, far enough out for the breezes of the Atlantic to 
temper their ardent sunshine, close enough to the main- 
land to be accessible by boat. 

About the centre of the bow, opposite the point where 
the Brunswick River debouches into the sea, lies Jekyl, 
eleven miles long and two miles wide, a gem of sub-tropical 
verdure, its thickets of bay, live-oak, gunV and evergreen 
laced with wistaria and flowering creepers, and Its savannas 
dotted with clumps of palmetto and wild orange. 

* The writer of this sketch wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. 
Franklin H. Head, author of Legends of Jekyl Island, and to Mr. Charles Spalding 
Wylly, author of Memories (of Saint Simons). From both these works he has 
borrowed extensively, as also from Mr. J. A. Scrymser's Jekyl Island, which is 
incorporated almost entire. 

3 



4 JEKYL ISLAND 

By day masses of wild flowers, and at night the splendor 
of myriad fireflies, light up its open spaces; and always, 
above the song of its mocking-birds, can be heard the rolling 
music of the surf as it beats on the miles of hard white 
beach the song of the sea. 

Its Story 

But Jekyl is more than a few square miles of beautiful 
scenery. Like its neighbor island to the north. Saint 
Simons, it is rich in historical associations; its soil also "is 
humanized and made dear by the spirits of those who have 
lived on and in its neighborhood." 

It first dawns on the historical horizon in the report 
made by Sir Francis Drake to Queen Elizabeth in 1587. 

After plundering various Spanish settlements along the 
coast of South and Central America, he sailed north and 
then, as he says: 

"On the 17th we took an observation, and found 
ourselves in latitude 30 deg. 30 min. N., and near a 
large island, which we felt sure was the land where 
we had information of a Spanish settlement of mag- 
nitude. Seeing some log houses, we decided to make 
a landing. We unfurled the standard of Saint George 
and approached the shore in great force, that we might 
impress the enemy with the great puissance of your 
Majesty. The accursed Spaniards, concealed behind 
the trees, fired upon us, and a sore and cruel fight 
seemed pendent, when the enemy, stricken with fear, 
incontinently fled to their homes, with their habili- 
ments of war. One of our men was sorely wounded 
by the Spanish Captain, whom we presently made 
prisoner, and, having set up a gallows, we there hanged 
him in a chain by the middle, and afterwards consumed 
with fire, gallows and all. 



JEKYL ISLAND 5 

"To us was the good God most merciful and grac- 
ious, in that he permitted us to kill eighteen Spaniards, 
bitter enemies of your sweet Majesty. We further 
wasted the country and brought it to utter ruin. We 
burned their houses and killed their few horses, mules 
and cattle, eating what we could of the fresh beef and 
carrying the rest aboard our ships. Having in mind 
the merciful disposition of your gracious Majesty, we 
did not kill the women and children, but having de- 
stroyed upon the island all their provisions and prop- 
erty, and taken away all their weapons, we left them 
to starve. 

"In view was another considerable island, fifteen 
miles to the northward, concerning which we asked 
of the women if any Spaniards dwelt thereon. The 
women were most ungracious, sullen and obstinate, 
perchance from their husbands having been killed be- 
fore their eyes, and wickedly refused to answer us; but 
after we had burned a hole with a hot iron through the 
tongue of the most venomous of their number, they 
eftsoons told us that there were no Spaniards upon the 
other island; that it was the haunt of a solitary French- 
man named Jacques, who claimed it as his own, and 
that from him it was known as 'Jacques lie.' Fearing 
that the women, instigated by the devil, were deceiving 
us, we visited the other island, with the holy deter- 
mination to exterminate any enemies of your sacred 
Majesty thereon, but found the story of the women 
was true. The Frenchman Jacques had a hut near 
the water, where he lived with an Indian pagan as his 
wife. He had a liberal store of turtle's eggs, gathered 
in the sand, which we took from him, as also his car- 
bine and forty pounds of ambergris, which he had col- 
lected from the sea, but did him no further harm. We 
took here another observation, finding the latitude 
31 deg. 10 min. N." 



6 JEKYL ISLAND 

Obviously the first island visited by this gentlemanly 
pirate was Cumberland, to the south of Jekyl, and the 
second Jekyl itself. 

The name Jacques' He attributed to it is interesting, 
as antedating its modern title, supposed given to it by 
Oglethorpe 150 years later, and raising the question whether 
Oglethorpe really did name the island after his friend Sir 
Joseph Jekyl, or merely adopted the local original title, 
corrupted In the course of years. 

In Dampier's Two Voyages to the Bay of Campeachy, 
published 1729, Dampler refers to Jekyl in an account of 
a buccaneering raid he made on the Spanish American coast 
in 1684 as follows: 

"The next morning, being now nearly arrived at 
the Florida coast, we landed upon an island In latitude 
31 deg. 12 min. N. for a supply of fresh water 

"Near the spot where we landed we found an abund- 
ance of fresh water and also a few huts, which were In- 
habited by peaceable savages. Much surprised were we 
to find that they spoke a language In which were found 
occasionally French words. We soon learned that they 
were largely the descendants of a Frenchman who had 
long before lived upon the island and married many 
Indian wives. From him the place was called 'Jacques 
Island.' The natural depravity of the pagans appeared, 
as we noticed that the French words were few in their 
usual conversation, but that thay had hoarded many 
French curses and bitter profanities, which they heaped 
upon us as we left the island, for no other reason, as 
we could conjecture, except that we had taken with 
us their cattle, weapons, furs, provisions and other 
articles which might be useful to us thereafter." 

Here again we notice the cheerful way in which robbery 
and pillage of the harmless natives is mentioned as the most 



JEKYL ISLAND 7 

natural thing in the world, as well as the robber's heartfelt 
surprise at the unexpected and unchristian contumacy of 
his victims. 

But it was in 1734 that Jekyl really made its appearance 
in history. 

The year previous to that date, General James E. 
Oglethorpe had landed at and named Savannah, thus found- 
ing what was ultimately to be the State of Georgia. 

Realizing the importance of having outposts from which 
he could watch the activities of the Spaniards, he settled 
a Scotch colony from Inverness on Saint Simons, and, two 
years later, erected Frederica, the settlement, into a gar- 
rison town, building barracks and quartering there six 
companies of his regiment. 

He had already placed Lieutenant Horton on Jekyl and 
established a plantation and a brewery (the first place in 
which English beer was brewed in America) there for the 
sustenance of his soldiers. 

Later, in order to have the seclusion and dignity proper 
to a governor, and at the same time to be within hailing dis- 
tance of his principal garrison, he took up his own residence 
on Jekyl, building a roomy mansion (of logs), where Lady 
Oglethorpe set up housekeeping; and it is during the few 
years that the Oglcthorpes were in residence here that we 
are really in touch with the life of the island. 

Both the Wesleys were in Georgia at the time; Charles 
as Secretary to the Governor, John as Missionary to the 
Indians, the latter's place on his retirement in 1737 being 
taken by Whitfield. 

There was free and frequent intercourse between Jekyl 
and Savannah, and many interesting letters are in existence 
which draw vividly the daily life and manners of the dwellers 
on the island. 

For instance — Lady Oglethorpe writes in 1734 to her 
husband, then on a trip to Savannah: 



8 JEKYL ISLAND 

"Since your departure, my dearest husband, all the 
pigs have escaped into the dreadful wilderness about 
us, and we fear daily that thay will be captured and 
eaten by the savages. The Chief, Altamaha, and his 
band, are still upon the island, and yesterday he came 
and begged tobacco and sugar, and also demanded of 
me our maid servant Elizabeth as his wife, much to 
her astonishment and terror. He was dressed in all 
his barbaric finery, painted and bedaubed in as many 
colors as the coat of Joseph, and decorated with feathers, 
bear's claws, and bright colored shells, as befitted a 
man equipped for female conquest. The wretched 
pagan has already three wives, whom he treats worse 
than beasts of burden, and I think this somewhat in- 
fluenced Elizabeth, as, had he been unmarried, the pros- 
pect of being a queen, even of the wild and savage Tus- 
caroras, might have moved her." 

Again, in 1763, Charles Wesley writes from Jekyl to 
Lady Oglethorpe herself in Savannah: 

"I have this day returned from the trip to the 
Ogeechee River, where I suffered many hardships and 
privations from the inhospitable weather. With my 
brother John, I preached to the Indians, whenever we 
could find them in any considerable numbers, although I 
fear but little impression was made upon them, . . . 

"Last evening I wandered to the north end of the 
island and stood upon the narrow point, which your 
ladyship will recall as there projecting into the ocean. 
The vastness of the watery waste, as compared with 
my standing place, called to mind the briefness of 
human life, and the immensity of its consequences, and 
my surroundings inspired me to write a hymn, com- 
mencing: 

Lo! on a narrow neck of land, 
'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand, 



JEKYL ISLAND 9 

which I trust may pleasure your ladyship, weak and 
feeble as It Is when compared with the songs of the 
sweet psalmist of Israel. I feel that here, like Moses, 
I am a stranger In a strange land, and I pray hourly 
that when the night cometh, and when deep sleep 
falleth me, I may not be found without a wedding 
garment." 

and John Wesley, writing to the General at the Island, 
admits that he himself is not above experiencing the weak- 
ness of the flesh: 

"Verily the flesh Is weak, for I cannot but long for 
the day when again I may visit you and enjoy the 
flesh-pots of Jekyl Island. I can with difficulty eat 
the food of the savages. Insects bite and destroy my 
sleep. I am as a skeleton, and the evil one continually 
suggests that I murmur at my lot, and seek an easier 
way in which to serve the Lord." 

But perhaps the most illuminating and amusing of all 
the documents extant bearing upon Jekyl Island, is a letter 
from Lady Oglethorpe to her father-in-law: 

''^ Dear and Honored Parent: 

"I take my pen In hand to Inform you that my 
dear husband and myself are well and I hope these 
few lines may find you In the enjoyment of the same 
great blessing. We are now established in our new 
home on Jekyl Island, and I would fain give you a 
picture of this abode of the Governor of this promising 
colony. The mansion is built of pine logs, plastered, 
where plastered at all, with clay, and surrounded by 
a dense forest. The house Is very large and com- 
modious, but lacking many of the conveniences of our 
pleasant home In Surrey. We sleep on beds made of 
pine leaves, which are most confortable and exhale a 



lo JEKYL ISLAND 

balsamic fragrance supposed to be conducive to health. 
Our floors are of split pine logs, and about the walls 
are wooden pegs upon which to hang our gowns. Much 
of our china was broken on our journey hither, and 
we use instead the pewter mugs and plates brought for 
our servants. A few red savages are near us, living in 
wigwams, who beg often for tobacco, but bring us in 
return an abundance of venison and fish. The secre- 
tary of the colony, Charles Wesley, dwells with us 
upon the island, and is zealous to save the souls of the 
Indians who come hither to hunt and to fish. He bap- 
tized a week since one Indian and made him a part of 
Christianity, but later, for what reasons we cannot 
divine, though certainly through evil temptations of 
the father of idolatry, the devil, he suddenly cast off 
the Christian religion and abandoned the true, divine 
worship. Mr. Wesley has also the gift of verse, and 
has written many sweet hymns, which we sing in our 
family worship. . . . 

" From what I have written, you must not infer that 
we live altogether a lonely and quiet life. We have 
twice visited Charleston, the principal city of South 
Carolina, where we have been sumptuously entertained 
by the governor and principal citizens, whom we have, 
of course, invited to visit us in return. Recently we 
received word that our invitations would be accepted. 
We had informed them of our primitive mode of life, 
which they fully realized, having been in similar con- 
ditions themselves. Last Wednesday we were startled 
by a long blast from a conch shell, and on going to the 
beach saw a large party approaching in a flat-boat, 
men, women, negroes, horses and dogs. They were 
soon disembarked and at the house, where General 
Oglethorpe made them welcome with an abundance 
of rum made by the Puritans in that part of America 
called New England. They then told us that not to 



JEKYL ISLAND ii 

overtax our hospitalities, they had brought with them 
an abundance of food and servants, and proposed to 
go at once to some suitable place upon the shore and 
roast oysters. We set out for a cove about a mile dis- 
tant from our home. The progress towards it was a 
striking and curious pageant. First, marched as 
trumpeter, a stalwart negro, blowing a conch shell and 
producing a dismal and incessant blare. Then Gen- 
eral Oglethorpe on horseback, with myself behind him 
on a pillion, and a negro on a mule, carrying my best 
hat in a box, lest it be destroyed by the trees and 
bushes. Then our family coach, with one wheel miss- 
ing from an encounter with a stump, the axle being 
held up by a pole, and, within, the family of Governor 
Pickens, his wife, sister and a niece. Miss Mercy Pick- 
ens. Then two open wagons with the other ladies of 
the party, and some jugs of rum and boxes of food. 
About these rode the gentlemen on horses and mules, 
among them Mr. George Moultrie, a gallant young 
man who is soon to wed Miss Mercy, before named. 
Around the cavalcade swarmed the negroes, shouting 
and laughing, rolling their white eyes, and showing 
their white teeth in contrast to their shining black 
skins, and singing songs full of melody and pathos. 

"The road to the beach, while rude and rough for 
vehicles by reason of roots and stumps, is of wonderful 
beauty, bordered with great growths of evergreen, 
oaks and magnolias, with thickets of myrtle and bay, 
and a carpet of dwarf palmetto, all of most lustrous 
green, and the trees often festooned or bound together 
with trailing garlands of pale, gray moss. The most 
perfect art could devise nothing more beautiful than 
the tropical glories of this forest drive. When we 
reached the cove the negroes waded into the water 
and brought ashore great baskets of oysters, which 
they roasted in a fire kindled from branches of the 



12 JEKYL ISLAND 

fragrant pine. General Oglethorpe brewed a large tub 
of rum punch, while I made a bowl of delicious sangaree 
with wine from your own cellar, which has been with 
us from the time of our leaving dear old England. No 
one neglected these beverages, and with the oysters, 
the cheese and other viands with which we were pro- 
vided, a royal banquet was enjoyed. Many of the 
gentlemen were nearly overcome with the rum punch, 
although insisting that it was the roasted oysters 
which made their legs unsteady, and this had nearly 
led Mr. Wesley into serious trouble with Mr. Moultrie, 
whose almost maudlin attentions to his sweetheart. 
Miss Mercy, were constant and even annoying to her. 
"As Mr. Wesley drank no punch, they insisted he 
should sing, and he commenced one of his hymns which 
is a favorite with us: 

'Depths of mercy, can there be 
Mercy still reserved for me.^ — 

" 'Hold,' shouted Mr. Moultrie, 'none of your 
damned presumption. Mercy is not reserved for you 
or any of your kind. She is mine and mine alone.' 
General Oglethorpe interfered and endeavored to ex- 
plain, but Mr. Moultrie would listen to nothing, and 
proposed to give the Secretary a drubbing on the spot. 
I succeeded in quieting him, and asked Mr. Wesley to 
substitute another hymn, whereupon he commenced: 

'The day of jubilee is come 
Return ye ransomed sinners home.' 

" 'What,' shouted my husband, 'are you ordering 
away my guests on their very arrival.^ None of your 
foolishness ! ' ' Sir,' said Mr. Wesley, ' I was not address- 
ing your guests. I do not consider them as ransomed 
sinners.' 



JEKYL ISLAND 13 

" 'What do you mean?' said Governor Pickens; 'go 
and drum your nonsense into the wooly heads of the 
negroes.' 

"The riot was presently at an end, Mr. Wesley 
returning to the house, and was forgotten after the 
gentlemen had slept oflF their potations. 

"The party remained with us for three days, until 
the rum was exhausted." 

With all sympathy for the reverend gentleman whose 
taste in sacred song led him into such unexpected troubles, 
it is hardly possible to read this artless narrative without 
a smile, and the concluding words of our quotation seem 
to give a singularly human touch to the whole affair. 

Whitfield built an Orphanage on Jekyl while Oglethorpe 
was still there, and we have two letters on the subject from 
him to General Oglethorpe, written at dates some thirty 
years apart. 

In the first he refers to slavery as "an infamous traffic 
in human flesh" and condemns severely the acceptance of 
money donated by slave-owners for the support of his 
institution. 

In the second, having in the meantime discovered that 
he could not make the Orphanage support itself by free 
labor, and having been presented with three husky negroes 
by a converted Carolinian, he seems to have quite changed 
his mind, and praises the Lord for the beautiful harvests 
raised by these three slaves and nine others he had purchased. 

But these patriarchal times in Jekyl were soon over, for 
in 1742 came the Spanish invasion; and 5,000 regular sol- 
diers and 29 vessels of war approached to answer Ogle- 
thorpe's attack on Florida. 

To meet them, the British could only muster their 
single regiment at Frederica, a few of the Darien Rangers 



14 JEKYL ISLAND 

and Noble's Scouts; but In the extraordinary victory of 
Bloody Marsh, on Saint Simons, the enemy was defeated 
with a loss of over a thousand men; and the invasion was 
abandoned. 

Jekyl, however, had suffered terribly. The Spaniards 
had landed and burnt down all the buildings on the south 
of the Island and ravaged the plantations; and In conse- 
quence the General transferred his home and headquarters 
to Saint Simons. 

Then, In 1763, the treaty between Spain and Britain, 
which made Florida a British possession, finally deprived 
Jekyl and the other Islands of their military and political 
Importance; and they became, as they have since remained, 
dependent upon their geographical and social character- 
istics for distinction. 

The French Royalists 

The French Revolution was not without its effects even 
on so remote a shore as that of Jekyl. 

In 1788 a syndicate of five French gentlemen, royalists 
all, disgusted with France and Frenchmen, endeavored to 
found a feudal community on Sapelo Island as a peaceful 
refuge from the Revolutionary storms of their native land. 

However, there was no peace for them even here, and 
owing to a quarrel with one of their number, four of them, 
MM. Poulain du BIgnon, de Mousse, de Chapeldelalne and 
de Marlee, within a couple of years gave up their holdings 
on Saint Simons and settled. Instead, on Jekyl. 

Of these men Poulain du BIgnon was easily the first. 
An adventurer of the D'Artagnan type. In his youth he had 
served for years in the French army in India. As artillery- 
instructor at the court of a native rajah he had enjoyed the 
barbaric splendor of an oriental despotism, while later he 
commanded a Franch privateer and preyed for years on 
British commerce. 



JEKYL ISLAND 15 

What unwritten history, what unknown tragedies were 
consigned to oblivion when his house was torn down, and 
bundles of records thrown into the fire by a carpenter who 
could not read French, only the imagination can conceive. 

During the War of 181 2, the shadow of war once again 
lay over the island. The Federal troops landed, and, doubt- 
ful of the loyalty of the inhabitants, sacked the dwelling 
houses, though the du Bignon family had escaped to the 
mainland, leaving a confidential slave to bury the gold plate 
and other treasures. 

From this time on the story is one of dwindling resources 
and of an estate increasingly reclaimed by wild nature, 
until the war between the States gave the finishing touch, 
and turned all the flourishing plantations of the neighbor- 
hood, rice, cotton and cane, into desolation. 

In 1888, the heirs of the du Bignon family sold the island 
— making the request that the old family burial ground should 
be held sacred — to some Northern men, who were seeking 
in the south a place of rest, a spot where they could lay 
aside the worries and insistencies of their business, remote 
from the confusion of the outside world, surrounded only 
by the friends they wished to meet, enjoy sport of all kinds 
in the open air — or the dolce far niente if they preferred. 

And so, after what was practically a century of desola- 
tion, the Jekyl Island Club, with a membership limited to 
one hundred, was formed and Jekyl Island once more took 
up its place in the story of the land. 

Associations of the Neighborhood 

Though the literary associations of Jekyl itself are 
principally concerned with the Wesleys and the Oglethorpes, 
the neighborhood is one of unusual literary interest. 

Sidney Lanier has celebrated the "clean salt air" of the 
marshes of Cumberland. Basil Hall has written of the 



i6 JEKYL ISLAND 

spell of the sister island Saint Simons. There also Audubon 
stayed, and on the occasion of his second visit to America 
In 1846, Sir Charles LycU, the famous English geologist, 
wrote In praise of its life and its people. Miss Bremmer, 
author of Homes in the N ew World, and Miss Amelia Murray 
both visited it and recorded their impressions, and here it 
was that Aaron Burr drew out the plan of his "Phantom 
Empire," though the house in which he wrote on Saint 
Simons was undermined in 1824 by a freshet and carried 
away. 

In 1838 Fanny Kemble lived on Saint Simons, and though 
her house was destroyed in 1863 by Federal troops, her 
Memories are full of the beauty and happiness of life in the 
Islands. 

On Cumberland, too, "Light Horse Harry" Lee lies 
buried, and there the "Phantom Coach" appears; while 
Brunswick city, on the mainland, is famous as the place 
where that last slave ship to cross the ocean, The Wanderer, 
landed her cargo of five hundred Africans in 1859. 

Even the idea of an Island club In these parts is not new. 

The planters of Saint Simons, in 1820, formed a club 
for social pleasure, called the Saint Clair's Club, whose 
meetings were held In the Saint Clair Mansion, owned by 
Major Pearce Butler. 

Here monthly dinners were given by the members- In 
rotation, each as his turn came furnishing dinner, service, 
and the wines and punch. Visitors were invited from 
Savannah and Augusta, and great competition grew up 
among the members, each striving for the reputation of 
having been host at the most convivial meeting, where the 
best stories and the most extroardlnary adventures were 
recounted. 

The dinner on these occasions was not served in courses, 
save that the two soups, one a clam broth, the other chicken 
mulligatawny, were brought on first; the fish, shrimp pies, 
crabs (in shell), roasts and vegetables, were all placed in 



JEKYL ISLAND 17 

one service; the dessert was simple, tartlets of orange mar- 
malade, dried fruits and nuts. The dishes disposed of, 
amid general gossip and talk, and the cloth drawn, the 
great punchbowl with its mixture of rum, brandy, sugar, 
lemon-juice and peel, was brought in. The wine glasses 
were pushed aside and stubby pottle-shaped glass mugs 
were handed around; and the chairman of the meeting, 
rising, announced that the health of the President of the 
United States would be drank, standing and with cheers. 
After this opening of the evening, there was much filling 
of mugs, nodding of heads, one to the other, with short 
words of good wishes, such as "Happy days to you," "Here's 
to you," and the like. 

Then followed stories, songs and arguments in which 
everyone, guest or member, was expected to prove his mettle. 
Then nine strikes and "Auld Lang Syne" is sung and all 
with linked hands. Good-nights are shouted, and the mem- 
bers and their guests ride away attended by their body ser- 
vants, who are very watchful and will not leave their mas- 
ters (for the punch has been strong) until they see them 
safely disposed on their respective couches; for such are the 
manners and customs of our folk of a century since. 

The Island Today 

Since that time, good taste, energy and wealth have 
turned beautiful Jekyl into a little paradise of comfort and 
health-giving relaxation. 

Negotiations for the purchase of the islands were brought 
to a successful termination February i, 1888, and the 
titles passed to the newly organized Jekyl Lsland Club, with 
a membership limited to one hundred. 

As anticipated, Jekyl Island has proven to be most 
ideally situated, remote from the confusion and stress of 
the outside world and yet within easy reach of all the busi- 
ness centres of the country. 



1 8 JEKYL ISLAND 

The island embraces, altogether, twenty-two square 
miles or fourteen thousand acres. On its eastern side are 
eleven miles of beach as hard as a shell road, and on the 
western side is a landing which is reached by a pleasant 
sail in the Club Steamer, from Brunswick. 

The Club House is a large structure of brick and faces 
the bay from a gently undulating lawn. The Club House 
is equipped with every modern improvement, besides 
spacious drawing and reception rooms en suite with bath- 
rooms sufficient for the accommodation of one hundred 
guests. The restaurant is perfect, both as regards cooking 
and service, and "Jekyl Oysters," "Jekyl Terrapin" and 
planked Shad are features of the Club table that cannot 
be surpassed. 

Attached to the Club House is the Club Annex, contain- 
ing eight apartments, belonging to Henry H. V^ail, General 
Edmund Hayes, Mrs. Samuel Spencer, J. J. Albright, Mrs. 
John S. Kennedy, Cornelius N. Bliss, James W. Ellsworth 
and Charles Lanier. 

There is another apartment house, too, known as the 
"Sans Souci," having six apartments which are owned by 
Frederick G. Bourne, James J. Hill, J. Pierpont Morgan, 
Robert C. Pruyn, William Rockefeller, and James A. 
Scrymser. 

On the grounds, also, are the private residences of 
Charles S. Maurice, Edwin Gould, Mrs. Hester E. Shrady, 
R. T. Crane, Jr., Walton Ferguson, William Rockefeller, 
Henry K. Porter, and Frank H. Goodyear. 

The Club members maintain a well-equipped School 
House for the children of its white employees, also a sum- 
mer day and night school which is well attended by the 
Club's colored employees, old and young. 

An electric plant supplies all of the buildings and grounds 
with electric lights and an excellent water supply is obtained 
from artesian wells. 



JEKYL ISLAND 19 

A fine vegetable garden supplies the Club with early 
and delicious vegetables. 

There is a well-equipped Livery Stable, with carriages 
and liveried drivers and also saddle horses; and, in addition, 
a Club Stable where the horses and carriages of the members 
are cared for. Lately, a roomy garage for automobiles 
had been added. 

Religious services are held in a very attractive Union 
Chapel. Worshippers here recall the beautiful services in the 
past conducted by Bishops Potter, Deane, Nelson and Reese 
and Dr. Schauffler. The Club waiters compose the choir. 

Too much cannot be said of the attractiveness and 
beauty of the thirty miles of drives, also of the bridle and 
bicycle paths, through the pine and live oak forests and the 
palmetto, holly and magnolia, thence out on the magnificent 
beach. During a drive on the old plantation roads one 
often sees wild deer and bevies of quail. 

On the inland water there are steam launches, boats and 
canoes for the use of the members. 

The new golf links of the Club are, it is claimed, the 
finest in the South. In addition to golf, there are two 
tennis courts and a croquet ground. 

The shooting season commences the first of November 
and lasts to March 15th. Deer, wild turkeys, ducks and 
quail afford fair sport. For the convenience of the sports- 
men paths have been cut throughout the island. The 
Club records show that over 2,200 quail have been shot 
during the season by members and guests. 

The lawns are well kept and sown with seed imported 
from England. They are embellished with beds of brightly 
blooming flowers. Flowers bloom on Jekyl Island all 
winter long in great variety; and the climbing vines, such 
as the Cherokee Rose, the Wistaria, Trumpet Creeper and 
the Jessamine, in conjunction with the many beautiful 
spring flowers, form a picture that is a delight to the eyes. 
On the lawn, too, there are a variety of palmetto trees, 



20 JEKYL ISLAND 

and clumps of Bayonet palmetto. Wild orange trees, 
loaded with fruit and fragrant blossoms, are plentiful. 

The native birds and those migrating in the spring are 
of many varieties, and the sweet tones of the mocking bird 
are heard day and night. 

There is a competent resident physician on the island. 

A small steamer stops at the island twice daily with the 
mail. 

The following extract from a letter received from a re- 
cent visitor to the Jekyl Island Club, needs no comment: 

"I thank you for my two weeks at Jekyl Island, 
They were most enjoyable and how could they be 
otherwise, surrounded as I was with charming, well- 
bred people, with an interesting golf course, and men to 
play with whose keen interest in the game and spirit 
of fun made eighteen holes a real treat. 

"Then came a drive through those woodland 
groves, along that wonderful beach, and, after a good 
dinner, an evening before the wood fire in the smoking 
room, listening to men who have seen and done things; 
men with war experience and stories of hunting and 
yachting and traveling, here and in other lands, inter- 
spersed with wit and humor, and, think of it, no gossip. 
I, for once, did not miss the band and music and the 
dancing which are found in so many of our Southern 
watering-places. Those beautiful moonlight nights and 
the days when the air was filled with a perfume of 
flowers and the mocking-birds were singing in the trees, 
were much more to my taste, and when it came to 
Sunday, the services in the little Chapel, where eminent 
bishops and divines discoursed upon things which every 
thoughtful man is thinking about, suited me. 

"It is certainly a unique place. I know of no re- 
sort of its kind in this country or any other xrountry. 
And when you see the tired men and women, who 



JEKYL ISLAND 21 

come there, restored to health and strength, you feel 
that there must be some combination of circumstances 
that makes the place so attractive and restoring. The 
real spirit of comradeship, which makes all, old and 
young, feel that they belong to the family, stimulates 
one to give of their best for the pleasure of others." 

It can readily be seen from the foregoing that the Jekyl 
Island Club is what its projectors planned, a Southern 
home, free from all the noise and confusion of a fashionable 
watering-place. The whole environment is one of refine- 
ment, and the Club to-day is one of the most restful places 
in America. 

MOREBY ACKLOM. 



^' 



Original Members — ^Jekyl Island Club 
April 26, 1886 



Aspinwall, Lloyd 
Barron, John C. 
Bartlett, Francis 
Bliss, Cornelius 
Claflin, John 
Clarke, Thos. Curtis 
Corning, Erastus 
Cutting, Wm. Bayard 
de Koven, John 
du Bignon, J. E. 
Dexter, Wirt 
D'Wolf, W. B. 
Eames, E. E. 
Edwards, Lewis 
Ellis, Rudolph 
Fairbank, N. K. 
Field, Marshall 
Finney, Newton S. 
Fish, L. A. 

Furness, Walter Rogers 
Goelet, Ogden 
Goelet, Robert 
Gray, Geo. E. 
Grosvenor, J. B. M. 
Hayes, Edmund 
Higgins, A. Foster 
Hopkins, A. Lawrence 



Howland, Henry E. 
Hyde, Henry B. 
Ketchum, Franklin M. ^ 
King, Oliver Kane 
Lawson, L. M. 
Loomis, John Mason 
Lorillard, Pierre 
Maurice, C. S. 
McCagg, E. B. 
McClave, E. W. 
Morgan J. Pierpont 
Newcomb, H. Victor 
Ogden, R. L. 
Pearsall, Thos. W. 
Price, Dunbar 
Pulitzer, Joseph 
Rockefeller, William 
Rogers, Fairman 
Sard, Grange 
Stewart, John A. 
Stickney, Joseph 
Struthers, Wm. 
Touzalin, A. E. 
Vanderbilt, Wm. K. 
Willard, E. K. 
Wyeth, John 



Members Alive and Dead — Also Resigned 



Aldrich, N. W. 
Allerton, S. W. 
Anderson, W. P. 
Aspinwall, Lloyd 
Austin, Wm. 
Baker, Frederic 
Ballatine, J. Herbert 
Baring, Alex. 
Barnes, J. S. 
Bleistein, G. 
Bond, F. S. 
Borden, M. C. D. 
Brice, C. S. 



Brinton, J. Percy 
Butler, Prescott Hall 
Claflin, Arthur B. 
Clarke, E. W. 
Cochrane, A. S. 
Converse, E. C. 
Coppell, Geo. 
Cunningham, B. S. 
Davison, Henry P. 
Deering, C. W. 
Dexter, Samuel 
Dexter, Josephine 
Dickerman, W. B. 



Doane, J. W. 
Ellsworth, D. S. 
Eno, A. F. 
Fabyan, Geo. F. 
Ferguson, Henry 
Field, Geo. S. 
Field, Henry 
Forrest, Chas. R. 
Foulke, W. D. 
Goodyear, F. H. 
Gould, Edwin, Jr. 
Gould, Geo. J. 
Grant, Hugh J. 
Gurnee, W. S. 
Hill, James J. 
Hoffman, C. F. 
Hoffman, E. A. 
Hubbard, E. K. 
Inman, J. H. 
Jesup, Morris K. 
Jewett, A. D. L. 
Jones, N. S. 
Keep, F. A. 
Kennedy, John S. 
King, D.H.,Jr. 
King, Henry W. 
Lawson, W. T. 
Lester, J. T. 
Longstreth, C. 
Macy, George H. 
Magee, John 



McKay, Gordon 
Medill, Joseph 
Moore, John G. 
Nelson, Murry 
O'Shaughnessy, J. F. 
Parmly, D. R. 
Parrish, James C. 
Pell, Alfred 
Pierson, J. Fred. 
Procter, Wm. A. 
Procter, W. Cooper 
Renwick, James 
Ream, Norman B. 
Rumsey, D. P. 
Smith, J. Hopkins 
Smith, R. D. 
Spencer, Samuel 
Stackpole, J. L. 
Taylor, Wm. H. 
Thorne, Edwin 
Thorne, Jonathan 
Thorne, Oakleigh 
Thorne, William 
Thomas, Samuel 
Tyler, A. L. 
Van Wickle, A. S. 
Watmough, J. G. 
WetheriU, S. P. 
Whipple, W. D. 
Woodruff, S. D. 



xS 



Present Membership 
1919 

Albright, ]. J., BufFalo, N. Y., November 25, 1890. 
Aldrich, Nelson W. (Est.), Providence, R. I., October 14, 

1912. 
AsTOR, Vincent, New York, N. Y., February 28, 1916. 
Baker, Frances E., Mrs., New York, N. Y., November 12, 

1913. 
Baker, George F., New York, N. Y., April 18, 1901. 
Beale, William G., Chicago, 111., March 20, 1918. 
Billings, C. K. G., New York, N. Y., November 21, 1904. 
Bliss, Cornelius, N. Jr., New York, N. Y., February 9, 1912. 
Bourne, Frederick G., New York, N. Y., April 8, 1901. 
Brewster, George S., New York, N. Y., January 3, 1919. 
Brewster, Robert S., New York, N. Y., March 2, 1912. 
Brown, M. Bayard, New York, N. Y., September 15, 1886. 
Clark, Stephen Carlton, New York, N. Y., May 4, 1916. 
Crane, Charles R., New York, N. Y., February 17, 1916. 
Crane, R. T., Jr., Chicago, 111., March 2, 1912. 
Crosby, Franklin M., Minneapolis, Minn., March 7, 1914. 
Crouch, Herbert E., Buffalo, N. Y., January 26, 1915. 
De Forest, Robert W., New York, N. Y., January 8, 1898. 
Delano, Eugene, New York, N. Y., January 17, 1910. 
Dick, J. Henry, New York, N. Y., January 24, 1916. 
Dows, Tracy, Rhinebeck, N. Y., November 23, 1915. 
Ellsworth, James W., New York, N. Y., April 14, 1915. 
Eno, Amos F. (Est.), New York, N. Y., June 30, 1904. 
Ferguson, Henry (Est.), Hartford, Conn., December 20, 1906. 
Ferguson, Walton, New York, N. Y., February 9, 1887. 
Fisher, Henry J., New York, N. Y., March 6, 1917. 
FiSK, Pliny, Rye, N. Y., February 19, 1915. 
Goelet, Robert Walton, New York, N. Y., December 11, 

1901. 
Goodyear, Frank H., Buffalo, June 2, 1916. 
Gould, Edwin, New York, N. Y., December 13, 1899. 
Grant, Hugh J., Mrs., New York, N. Y., April 11, 1912. 
Hammond, John Henry, New York, N. Y., January 23, 1917. 
Harding, f. Horace, New York, N. Y., April 25, 1916. 
Harkness"; Edward S., New York, N. Y., March 20, 1911. 
Hayes, Edmund, Buffalo, N. Y., November 27, 1886. 
HiGGiNS, Eugene, New York, N. Y., February 3, 1891. 
Hill, James J., Mrs., St. Paul, Minn., December 14, 1916. 
James, Norman, Baltimore, Md., March 2, 1918. 
James, Walter B., New York, N. Y., February 19, 1917. 



Jarvie, James N., New York, N. Y., January 31, 1910. 
Jenkins, Helen Hartley, New York, N.Y., October 27, 1909. 
Johnstone, Kate A., Hamilton, Mass., February 2, 1907. 
Kennedy, John S., Mrs., New York, N. Y., January 17, 1910. 
Krech, Alvin W., New York, N. Y., November 6, 1916. 
Lanier, Charles, New York, N. Y., March 8, 1889. 
Lee, Elliot C, Boston, Mass., March 6,1915. 
Macy, George H. (Est.), New York, N. Y., March 5, 1902. 
Macy, V. EvERiT, Scarborough-on-Hudson, N. Y., February 26, 

1909. 
Maurice, Charles S., Athens, Pa., April 26, 1886. 
McCoRMicK, Cyrus H., Chicago, 111., June 10, 1891. 
McCrea, W. S., Chicago, 111., January 4, 1893. 
Morgan, J. Pierpont, New York, N. Y., June 23, 1913. 
NicKERSoN, Hoffman, New York, N. Y., February 9, 1912. 
OgiIvie, Clinton, Mrs., New York, N. Y., May 9, 1917. 
Palmer, Edgar, New York, N. Y., February 16, 1914. 
Phoenix, Phillips, New York, N. Y., January 30, 1905. 
Porter, H. K., Pittsburgh, Pa., April 22, 1891. 
Pruyn, Robert C, Albany, N. Y., March 24, 1897. 
Pyne, M. Taylor, New York, N. Y., March 6, 1915. 
Roche, Francis George Burke, New York, N. Y., March 12, 

1915. 
Rockefeller, William, New York, N. Y., April 26, 1886. 
Schley Grant B. (Est.), New York, N. Y., September 18, 

1903. 
Scrymser, James A. (Est.), New York, N. Y., March 7, 1894. 
Shattuck, Frederick C, Boston, Mass., February 26, 1912. 
Slade, George T., St. Paul, Alinn., November 3, 1916. 
Spencer, Sameul, Mrs., Washington, D. C, February 23, 1909. 
Spoor, John A., Chicago, 111., March 4, 1916. 
Stillman, James (Est.), New York, N. Y., January 13, 1892. 
Stotesbury, E. T., Philadelphia, Pa., December 3, 1909. 
Vail, Henry H., New York, N. Y., March 20, 1897. 
Vail, Theodore N., Lyndonville, Vt., October 14, 1912. 
Walters, Henry, Baltimore, Md., April 8, 1901. 
Woodruff, Welland, D., St. Catherines, Ont., February 15, 

1904. 



List of Birds Seen on Jekyl Island 



American Osprey (Fish Hawk)Hooded Merganser 
American Widgeon Humming Bird 

Bald Eagle Indigo Bunting 

Baltimore Oriole Ivory-billed Woodpecker 

Barn Owl Kildee Plover 

Belted Kingfisher Killdeer 

Blackburnian Warbler King-bird 

Black-breasted Plover Least Sandpiper 

Black Duck Leatherwinged Bat 

Black and White Creeping War-Loggerhead Shrike 



bier 
BluebiU 
Blue Bird 
Blue Jay 

Blue-gray Gnat Catcher 
Blue-winged Warbler 
Bobolink 
Brown Pelican 
Brown Thrasher 
Brown Thrush 
Canvasback Duck 
Cardinal Grosbeak 
Catbird 

Cedar Wax-wings 
Chicken Hawk 
Chimney Swift 
Chuck Will's Widow 
Clapper Rail (Marsh Hen) 
Cooper Hawk 
Cormorant 
Crow 
Egret 
Field Lark 
Field Sparrow 
Flicker 
Gadwall 
Gadwall Duck 
Ganite 

Great Bittern 
Great Blue Heron 
Great Horned Owl 
Greater Yellowleg 
Ground Dove 
Hairy Woodpecker 
Harrier Hawk 



Long-billed Curlew 

Long-billed Dowditcher 

Long-billed Alarsh W^ren 

Mallard Duck 

Marbled Godwit 

Meadow Lark 

Merganser Duck 

Mocking Bird 

Mourning Dove 

Myrtle Warbler 

Night Hawk 

Nonpareil 

Orchard Oriole 

Parula Warbler 

Phoebe 

Pine Warbler 

Purple Crackle 

Purple Martin 

Quail 

Quawk or Black-crowned Night 

Heron 
Red-billed Coot 
Red-head Duck 
Red-headed Woodpecker 
Redstart 

Red-winged Black Bird 
Robin 

Ruddy Duck 
Sandpiper 
Scrap Duck 
Screech Owl 
Smaller Bittern 
Sparrow Hawk 
Spotted Sandpiper 
Summer Tanager 



Summer Yellowleg 
Titmouse 
Towhee 
Tree Sparrow 
Turkey Buzzard 
Vesper Sparrow 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
White-billed Coot 
White Heron 



Wild Turkey 

WiUet 

Wilson Snipe 

Wilson Thrush 

Woodcock 

Wood Duck 

Wren 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 

Yellow-billed Sapsucker 



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PAIR OF HORSES IN FRONT OF HOUSE, 




SOUTH END OF CLU B ENCLOSURE 




LIVE OAKS AND MOSS CLUB GROUNDS 




ENCLOSURE OF CLUB GROUNDS 







ENCLOSURE OF CLUB GROUNDS 




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OGLETHORP NEAR LEDGE POND 







OGLETHORP ROAD NEAR HALF MOON POND 




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